Sin pays

Mauckingbird is still going strong with ‘Never the Sinner’

Unlike nearly all of Philly’s theater companies, Mauckingbird Theatre Co. hasn’t noticed any dip of late in their contributions or funding.

Truth be told, they never had any funding to lose, but let’s not let that get in the way of an emerging success story. The fact is, over the past year and a half, Mauckingbird has earned a startling amount of money on box office sales alone — an almost unheard of strategy in today’s professional theater.

The company’s fourth production, “Never the Sinner,” is based on the real-life Leopold and Loeb murder — in which a privileged teenager and his boyfriend killed a neighbor for “the thrill of it” in 1924 — and explores the underlying meanings behind the famous crime.

The production features three Equity actors and a host of production needs, which means director Peter Reynolds and company manager Lindsay Mauck are working pro bono, as usual. “We’re not making any kind of profit, but we’re not losing money at present,” says Reynolds. “We’re used to working on a tight budget.”

‘Never the Sinner’
Adrienne Theatre
Through Aug. 30, $15-$20
mauckingbirdtheatreco.org